Photo: Dean Mitchell/Getty Images
Physician burnout rates continue to decline nationwide, but wide variation across specialties highlights persistent operational and workforce challenges, according to a survey from the American Medical Association (AMA).
In 2025, 42% of physicians reported at least one symptom of burnout, down from 43% in 2024 and 48% in 2023, suggesting there has been a gradual improvement in clinician well-being.
The findings are based on nearly 19,000 responses across 38 states and 106 health systems, drawn from the AMA's Organizational Biopsy dataset and included in its latest national physician comparison report.
Despite overall gains, the data indicate burnout remains unevenly distributed. Emergency medicine, urological surgery and hematology/oncology reported the highest rates, all approaching or exceeding 49%.
Obstetrics and gynecology, radiology and family medicine also ranked above the national average. In contrast, specialties such as infectious diseases, nephrology and dermatology reported significantly lower levels of burnout.
"2025 marked another year of progress in reducing overall physician burnout levels," AMA President Dr. Bobby Mukkamala said in a statement. "This reflects broad gains in engagement, well-being, and perceived support across organizations."
He added that building effective, lasting solutions requires better understanding where physicians are struggling and why.
The report benchmarks five key indicators of physician experience: burnout, job stress, job satisfaction, intent to leave and sense of organizational value. Four of these measures improved year over year, suggesting broader progress across health systems.
However, hospital-based specialties– including emergency medicine, radiology and anesthesiology – consistently lagged the overall benchmark across multiple indicators, pointing to ongoing workflow and staffing pressures in acute care environments.
Perceptions of organizational support also improved modestly, with 56% of physicians reporting they feel valued to a moderate or great extent, up slightly from the prior year. Still, disparities persist across gender, tenure and specialty, indicating uneven progress in workplace experience.
Job satisfaction remained relatively stable overall, with higher levels reported in fields such as psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology, while hospital-based roles again trailed the average.
The findings indicate that, while burnout is trending downward, the underlying drivers are highly context-specific.
Differences in workload intensity, administrative burden and care delivery environments continue to shape physician experience, suggesting that broad, system-wide interventions may be insufficient without more targeted, specialty-level strategies.
"By reducing administrative burden and advancing evidence-based solutions, we can help physicians rediscover the joy in medicine while building more sustainable practice environments," Mukkamala said.
Healthcare organizations continue to struggle with clinician turnover, driven largely by burnout and frustration with electronic health records (EHRs). The impact extends beyond workforce stability to significant financial costs, with replacing a nurse averaging about $56,300 and physician turnover ranging from $500,000 to $1 million, according to KLAS.
Organizations are addressing clinician burnout through targeted education and career development strategies that improve flexibility and retention.
Health systems including El Camino Health and OSF Healthcare are addressing clinician burnout through targeted education and career development strategies that improve flexibility and retention.
El Camino Health is using microlearning to deliver on-demand, role-specific training that reduces overtime and repeat sessions, while OSF Healthcare has invested in talent development programs, including tuition support, helping retain thousands of clinicians and generating strong returns on workforce investment.
Nathan Eddy is a healthcare and technology freelancer based in Berlin.
Email the writer: nathaneddy@gmail.com
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
